What almost nobody knows about Helen Magnus
by Janzan-Swomps
Summary: Things that Helen might do that almost nobody knows about.
1. Poems

_I hope you enjoy these little stories at the moment there are five, I'll try and post one every day, after that I hope to write more but we will see how this part goes first._

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Poems**_

Helen Magnus writes poems when in the right mood. No one knows that being sad or melancholy makes her write. She does not really have a choice, she has to write them down or she will never get rid of them. The other thing they don't know is that they are quite modern poems – she doesn't write sonnets or anything in the style she learned to write in when she was younger.

_Ashley, my dearest daughter_

_The flowers I pick for you_

_Are those of life_

_Like the life you once held_

_The color that tears at my heart_

_Is the color of passing_

_The passing of time_

_All that I see_

_Is the passing of time_

_In which_

_You continue to be_

_Dreaming of color_

_Dreaming of life_

_That once was_

_Is now a shadow of time_


	2. Knitting

_Here is chapter 2. I'm horrible for forgetting to thank my beta last chapter so thank you to Tigerlily. Enjoy_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Knitting**_

Helen Magnus knits. She knits when she was frustrated or when she needed to think. It clears her mind. Contrary to popular believes she is actually quite good at it.

When she was first introduced to knitting she had hated it. Her father had asked their maid to teach her how to sew and knit. She had begged her father to stop the knitting lessons, but he had refused with the argument that it was a useful skill and that even he knew how to do it. That he knew how to knit and sew had surprised her. She had not expect that a man would know how to do so.

Soon she had come to like it and later in her life she started to love the simple activity of knitting. Sewing was still and another mater, something she didn't do quite that often and did not quite like that much. Knitting was now one of the things that helped her to calm down and relax, it helped her clear her mind and come to new solutions and ideas. Every now and then at Christmas she would give someone a sweater or scarf, but nobody knew she made them and she liked to keep it that way.


	3. Driving

_Thanks to those who read my story and special thanks to the people who reviewed, I really appreciate it. Enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Driving**_

Helen Magnus can't drive a car. She knows it is ridiculous – she can handle a carriage, she can drive a bike, she can drive motorcycle, she can fly several different sorts of planes and she can fly a helicopter. However, she cannot drive a car. She has taken lessons from the Big Guy, from a licensed driving instructor and from Ashley, but she still cannot drive a car properly.

It is not as bad as it sounds – she knows how to drive a car and she has driven one on many occasions. She knows how it was when the first cars were made – she knows how to drive those too. She just always fails the driving test. It is ridiculous how many rules have to be followed while driving a car. Years ago nobody cared how you drove as long as you didn't kill people during the driving. For her those were the good times. Maybe this year she will do better.


	4. Tea

_Last chapter should be up tomorrow. Enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Tea**_

Helen Magnus doesn't like coffee. Actually everybody knows that. However, what no one knows is why she doesn't like it. It is true that she prefers tea. What isn't true is that she prefers it because she is English. Yes, she likes her High Tea and she grew up with tea as an English tradition, but that is not why she prefers tea over coffee.

It has to do with the first time she had coffee, which she will probably never forget. It was during her stay in Italy her friend told her to try a coffee while there in the land with the best coffee in the world. In Rome she decided to break with her English traditions and have a cup of coffee instead of having a cup of tea.

She got an espresso and for the rest of the day had been a bouncing ball. She hadn't been able to stand still or concentrate, and in the evening she hadn't been able to sleep as well. Well, not until she crashed and she crashed hard. After making a fool of herself the whole day, she still felt ashamed to think of how she had acted in front of…

No she could not bear think about that. Even after all this time, she still goes red if she does. So after the humiliation and the crashing in the end she decided never to have coffee again and stick with tea.


	5. Stage Fright

_This is the last chapter. I'm going to try and make it longer but I don't promise anything. If you have any ideas about another chapter you want me to write just let me know and I'll see if I can make it happen. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my story. Also thanks again to my wonderful beta Tigerlily. Oh, I think I forgot this before I don't own it. Enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Stage Fright**_

Helen Magnus has stage fright. Well, that isn't entirely true – she would do fine on stage as long as she just had to say something. She has had a lot of practice talking in public, and it wasn't something that had ever frightened her. Of course, she was always a little nervous before starting, but that had become less and less with the years.

Performing on stage, however, was something entirely else. She was absolutely terrified and unable to make a move whenever she had to perform. Whether she would sing, play the piano, play any other instrument, dance, play with a theater group or anything else, she found she couldn't do it. When she was still a little girl she had been able to perform for her father, but never had she been able to perform for someone else.

The fear kept her frozen. It would freeze her and make her unable to do anything – perform, talk, or even move. The fear was almost but not yet bigger than her fear for John and her fear of the love she felt for him or, before it happened, the fear of losing Ashley.

Why? She didn't know, but that didn't make it less true or less likely to happen. She had stage fright.


	6. Hair

_Another chapter , this one is for melissaadams22, who requested this one, even though it is not exactly what you asked for I hope you like it. Thank you to my wonderful beta Tigerlily. I sadly do still not own it. If you have any requests about another topic you would like to have a chapter about, feel free to ask. Enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Hair**_

Helen Magnus likes to dye her hair. When she changed her hair from blond to brunette, she enjoyed how it made her look different. A little change every now and then was good in her life; it was too easy to get stuck in behaviour and thinking patterns.

Although she enjoyed this change very much, it was the little changes she enjoyed the most. Colouring a single lock dark red or pink beneath the cover of her dark hair made her feel rebellious. Easy to cover up when not appropriate and otherwise adding some colour to her appearance and maybe even gave it a more humorous tone.

The first time she did it was when Ashley was little – she and Ashley had made an agreement to both dye a lock of their hair in the same colour. Although Ashley had stopped the tradition to change the colour every three months when she became a teenager, Helen had continued to do it.

But at the moment it hurt too much. Her lock would stay black for the time being. She hopped that in the future she would be able to dye it again with good memories of that time they had spent bonding. She would wear it as a memorial to Ashley.


	7. Books

_A/n: Amanda Tapping made a comment on Twitter about Helen's favourite writers (Jules Verne, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Anais Nin and Dorothy Parker) I was already writing this one, so I adapted it a little. This is for al of you who are still reading and for the those who have it in their alert and favourite list, thank you. Also thank you to my beta reader Tigerlily Brown. I hope you enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

**Books**

Helen Magnus reads a lot, even though she doesn't always have much time to do so. She reads scientific articles on topics that are relevant for her work in order to keep up with the most recent discoveries and inventions in the world of regular science. If she didn't do that, she could miss something that could help her patients or might be essential to keep the Abnormal world a secret to the public. She might need to convince the scientist that came up with the idea to join them in their quest or when they won't she needs to do something else.

But she also read as a leisure activity. Although this might not be a surprise to most people, they often find it surprising _what_ she reads. They expect her to read literature, poetry and even romance novels. She does enjoy those especially, when they are well written and those by adventurous writers who stepped outside the existing way of writing and did something new.

There is only one kind she doesn't read: books on historical events she has been present at. When she reads them she gets annoyed by the inaccuracy of the events they describe. Admittedly, it can be quite amusing to read how people think about and interpret things that happened in the past. Usually they couldn't be further from away from the truth, but some come so close it is almost scary.

Besides history, Helen reads many different kinds of books. She absolutely loves to read fiction, in fantasy and particular science fiction. She loves the escape it offers and the fact that everything is possible. They offer the possibilities they give as to what the future will look like. People find this strange since her life could be a science fiction story, but there is only one difference. In fiction the good always defeats the evil, whichdoesn't always happen in real life.


	8. Jewellery

_AN: Sorry it took me so long, I'm really busy with school and I couldn't find a beta reader, since I still haven't found one I'm just posting it. Thanks to everyone still reading. Please tell me, if there are any mistakes (which I'm sure there are). Not mine, however all mistakes are. Enjoy!_

**What (almost) nobody knows about Helen Magnus**

_**Jewellery**_

Helen Magnus owns her fair share of jewellery, though they are not very important to her. There only a few pieces she really treasures, the ones she has gotten from friends, the ones that not necessary have a high value of their own but have a high value to her. They include a necklace of her mother as well as her ring which her father gave her with a bracelet when she became of age. He told her that every girl needs to have something of her mother to treasure. He gave her those for her to remember and to honour her mother.

Besides the ones from her parents there are also those that were gifts from friends and lovers. John's ring being the one with the most painful memories attached to it, even though she had been the one to break their engagement he had never asked her ring back, so she had kept it. A painful reminder of what she could have had, a husband, a family. However, when he changed that hadn't been possible anymore she knew that. She had tried to help him but had had to admit she couldn't. The ring reminded her of what she had lost.

Two other precious pieces she had gotten from James and Tesla. They gave her once a pair of earrings and a matching necklace. They had given her jewellery before but this time they had them made for her. That they had put so much effort to make them special for her, they had designed them together instead of their normal rivalry to each have a better present than the other had.

The most important part of her collection existed of two necklaces and bracelets she had been given as a present from Ashley. One was the birthday present Ashley bought her for her 150th birthday, it was possible to open the hanger which showed a picture inside of Ashley. The other was the one Ashley made for mother's day when she was in primary school. It was hideous. With all the bright coloured beads in all kinds of sizes, pasta and feathers it looked more like it belonged in a modern art museum then something anyone sane would wear. She however loved it, Ashley had been so happy to give it to her, she had worn it all day even though it looked ridiculous. That hadn't bothered her though, she and Ashley had had a great day that Sunday. One she would always remember.


End file.
